


Bonded to you

by Agelefae



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-11
Updated: 2013-10-20
Packaged: 2017-12-08 04:15:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/756922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Agelefae/pseuds/Agelefae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Basically I really needed a DaveJade Fanstasy!Stuck where they are in each other's company a lot and then slowly fall in love and then I started to write it. Oops.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In which Dave Strider gets Bonded to Jade Harley

**Author's Note:**

> I am sorry; I am not used to writing fiction.

You are the reader, you wish to be entertained, to get away from one world and enter another. But right now, be someone else.

= => Be the Knight

Your name is Dave Strider, and you are soaking up the last rays of belonging wholly to yourself. You are sitting beneath a tree, idly shredding leaves as they lazily drift down around you. Staring at the giant complex of towers that make up the Center of The World, where those that control the forces of nature and keep it in balance live. You wonder who you will be paired with. It’s not like you were not expecting this day to come, they have been testing you for the last three years, but you wonder who you would be in charge of keeping safe.

You hope it would be your bro John, and dread it being your sister. You’ve heard too many stories of people paired together who end up killing each other because they did not get along. Even though you know it hasn’t happened for centuries, you still dread that it might just happen again and to YOU.

You itch your neck where the red threads used to rest. They were there since you entered the school, the white threads soaking up part of your essence, becoming a part of you through years. But for the binding ritual, they took it from all those who are graduating to become Protectors.

You wonder about Protectors, because you know that magic exists, you yourself have it. You know that there are two different types: Bending and Warping. You yourself are a Bender, and are waiting on being paired up with a Warper, someone who warps their aspect in the world around them. You can only Bend your aspect to make it affect you, and is very melee-oriented, while Warpers don’t just affect themselves, but _everything_ around them, but are slow to make things happen. There are stories where Warpers are in the middle of Warping and didn’t even notice they were stabbed until they fainted from blood loss. But that’s why a Warper is always paired with a Bender: so they can go about their duties without worry as the Bender protects them. And the teams are called Protectors.

But you wonder about why they exist. Why are people graced with such power? And then your mind drifts over to theories of what your partner’s aspect would be. Would they be male? Female? Gods, you hope it’s not Rose. You love her to death, but always being analyzed would get on your nerves so quickly.

You notice the time, sigh, and get up, brushing off your backside as you head down to the rest of your life.

= => Dave: Become bonded

You have to wait for that. You are currently in a side room where one wall is a one-sided mirror. On the other side of the mirror is where those who have bonded will be for all to see, as on the other side is a room just like the one you’re standing in. One of the mirrored side rooms is for Benders, the other for Warpers. You are lined up according to some weird rule or something, you don’t even know or even try to understand, and is posted on the wall so everyone knows their place. And as luck would have it, you’re first to go up. You look across the hall to the other one sided mirror and worry. But then Bro comes in and your attention snaps to him.

“Alright, people” He says. “This is it, what you’ve been training for. You know the drill: you move up a place as someone goes and gets bonded, you get bonded, line up in the middle for all to see, move your stuff to your new assigned rooms, get some rest, then your assignments will come tomorrow.” He then turns and leaves, but not before giving you a small fist bump and a quirk of the lips as a sign of approval.

You’re so glad for your poker face because without it, people would know that your heart just dropped into the pit of your stomach the moment you saw Bro’s back. This is it. This is fucking it. You’re going to become a Protector like your Bro. But you are not a hero like him, like some of your other friends. No, you are not ready for this. Not yet. You may be the coolest person ever to grace these halls, but you are not a hero.

Your fingers on your left hand felt like someone was tugging them and you remembered that this was the signal. It’s time. You panicked as you kept your face emotionless, blessing all the stars that you have your shades.

At the top of the room, you turn, climb the dais, where a group of people in black robes were standing, and on the other end of them, walking towards you was a petite girl with round glasses that were too large for her face who reminded you of John for some reason; perhaps it was because they had the same hair color, but you put that thought aside as you stopped in front of the robed people, turning to face them.

You notice that they are holding a long cord that was both red and green. If you weren’t mistaken, it was both your threads weaved together. You suppose it’s to create that ‘psychic bond’ crap you’ve always been hearing since your Bro got his partner. The people in the stupid robes motioned you to stand closer to the girl, and you obliged them. The feel of your threads was comforting and warm, while hers had a different feel, cooler than yours and soothing. They wound the threads – how did it get so long? This was like fucking _rope_ – around both your arms after they forcefully made you hold hands with her. When you looked over at her, you found that the tread/rope went up past her elbow.

She caught you looking and you gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

“Go line up.” He robed men? Women? You have no clue, but they told you to go line up, so you went to do so, but you noticed a problem when you came to the short flight of stairs, twelve in all. Your partner, (you should really get her name,) was a good head and shoulders smaller than you, and going down stairs with someone who’s of different heights while your arms are bound tightly together is kind of a problem. Even more so when one of you can’t even move their elbow as you would have to be perfectly in sync, which by the way, you doubt you were. You look at her, and see that she noticed too.

“Pardon me,” you say loudly enough for only her to hear as you maneuver your joined arms behind her forcing you both awkwardly close. With your other hand, you bend down, again awkwardly, but you manage to somehow scoop her up, though it was uncomfortable for you both. But, you managed to be able to get down the stairs with little to no hassle, so it was worth it.

“Sorry,” you say quietly as you set her down.

“It’s okay!” She beams back, “I was wondering how I can get down a flight of steps without falling _and_ be tied to a person while not taking them with me.” She giggled, and you feel your lips quirk into a small smile.

“Of course, didn’t you know that I happen to be the coolest of person here? People are always like, ‘damn, Dave, how can you be so cool and can we ever be as cool as you?’ and I tell them the truth: that no one can be as cool as me.”

She giggled, and you relaxed slightly. “I’m glad I got the coolkid!”

“Damn straight.” You say, your face completely blank, but you’re glad that you got someone who goes along with you like this.

“Sooooooo coooooooool!!”

“Dave Strider, by the way.” You say; you better get to know her name and she yours as you both are going to have to work together until either of you die.

“Jade Harley.” _Shit!_

“John Egbert’s sister?” How could you be so dumb! You _knew_ he had a sister who was a Warper!

“Yes! John’s told me much about you, coolkid!”

“Don’t believe everything Egderp says. He is just jealous of my mad skills and is totally in love with me.”

“Of course.” She smiles, but then she draws her attention to the front of the room and it occurs to you that there are a lot of people in the room than you remembered. And speak of the Devil, there was John, getting bound to Vriska.

You don’t really pay attention to the rest of the ceremony, except that somehow you’ve become hyper aware of the small hand in yours, and that your arm is itchy and there is a rope in the way so you can’t scratch it. Oh look, there is your sister, getting paired with Kanaya. Good for her. They would make a great match. But then your mind wandered for the rest of the people getting paired and just focused on the warmth that seemed to come from the small, delicate hand that somehow seems to be crawling up your arm. Is this part of the ritual?

Whatever, some words were being said and now there is a person coming forward, saying something over your arms and the cord fizzles into both you and Jade’s skin. Thank the gods that it didn’t hurt. But even after the rope was gone, you still don’t want to let go of her hand. And it seems like she does not, either. But you stay in place until Bro comes back in with his Partner and they both basically shoo everyone out. 


	2. In which Dave and Jade get settled in

= => Dave: Move

  
Your things were packed neatly on the foot of your bed, so it’s no trouble to pick them up, say good bye to your roommate for the last five years, Karkat, and then look at the keys that appeared in your hand as soon as you let go of Jade’s hand. They were small, but had red and green painted on them as well as an etched number. You know where to go, as all newbie Protectors got the east tower. 124. At least it wasn't that far up the tower.

You sigh as you move your stuff to your new apartment.

= => Be Jade

Sometimes it helps to have Space powers. Moving all your things in one go is one of those perks. Except for now. You're at the far end of the room, sitting on your stuff, watching the door on the opposite side of you to open. You didn’t really quite think things through and talked to Dave about your powers so both of you could get your things to this room instead of waiting for him.

There are two rooms, doors on the west and east walls. A long, rectangular room with the door leading in, in the middle of the north wall, a south-facing window with a built-in padded bench exactly facing it, you take in. There was a small fireplace, with comfortable chairs before it; A small table with two seats on the other wall. It was all very cozy, but the problem was the two rooms. You’ve always had a roommate, and it wasn’t that, but to PICK which room was the problem! They were identical in every way, you’ve explored them both, but even so, what if you chose the one that Dave would have liked because of the view out the window?

Your thoughts swirl around your mind, making your stomach get tighter and tighter until you feel so faint with worry, you think you might pass out. And of course, that’s when he decides to come in. He looks at you for a while before shifting his pack on higher on his shoulder.

“Sup?”

“Which room?” You blurt out before you could think of anything, something other than that.

“What?” You take a deep breath, steady yourself, and then you start again.

“Which room? I got here first, but I din’tknowwhichroomyou’dlikeand-“

“Woah, calm down there Harley. It’s not a big deal.” He sighs. “Look, I’ll just take the west room, okay? I feel weird if you were at my right rather than my left.” He mutters the last bit, but you have pretty good hearing, but you choose to ignore it. You smile.

“Thank you!” You concentrate, the scene before your open eyes dissolving as you force your mind to think of other things. Time become irrelevant as you will yourself and your stuff into your new room. When your vision comes back, you go to your window, and think about when you’ll be telling Dave about Bec.

= => Be Dave

You wondered how she got all those boxes to this… well, you suppose it would be more like a flat than anything else, but that’s not the point. You wondered how she got all those god damn heavy-looking boxes to this flat before you. You only have a few bags for your personal belongings because you expected this and didn’t want to carry a shitload of stuff up to this tower. But damn, if you had known you would have gotten someone with her powers, you would’ve kept all your junk.

You sigh, but head into your new room. You wonder why it kind of bothered you to think of her at your right side, rather than your left. Perhaps it was because you happen to be right handed and so you want her not to be on the side where you use your sword? Nah, whatever bro, those thoughts are weird and you know it. You were on the left side of your room with Karkat and you had no problem with that. Probably just some bonding shit or whatever.

You room was quite large, with a bed larger than you’re used to, a desk, chair, worktable, bookshelf, side table, closet, chest of drawers, and a trunk by the foot of the bed. You could fill this up easily. Even more so since now you’ll get paid for the jobs that you do so you can get all those pretty sweet things you were hoping on buying. You set your stuff on your bed and sit down. This room is as big as the room you and Karkat shared. This will be a big improvement. You examine the door, yep, it can lock, too. That would be handy when you bring home all those sweet ladies and don’t want to be disturbed by Jade. But she has those Space powers, so you better go and set some ground rules for both of you before things get awkward.

There’s a knock on your door.

“Yeah?” You call out.

“It’s Jade. May I come in?” You get up and open the door and she’s there, staring up at you with her big green eyes. You step aside and she swishes in, smelling like rain, metal, and dog. “I need to set up some rules with you before we get too settled in.” She says.

“Is one of your powers reading minds?” You seriously don’t know about those who have Space. Kanaya has weird random things she does and you never know if it was a quirk of hers or her powers.

“Of course not!” She exclaims, and then she giggles. “You were thinking the same thing, too? Good. Makes this easier.” She flops down on your bed. “I will always knock before entering, and if the door is locked, I will never come in. I don’t want to walk in on you and some lady.” Are you sure she can’t read minds? Oh well, at least that can and will be followed. “I expect less of the same for me, as I can forget to sleep when tinkering with things, so if I don’t answer and it’s not locked, feel free to come in and wake me. I keep odd hours, so please feel free to drag me to my bed if I keep you up. I prefer to eat meals with someone, or I’d get too lonely!! So, if you don’t wish to, at least make sure I eat breakfast?”

“I can agree to that.” You say. “How about if we’re in our rooms, we only talk to each other if we need each other, but if we’re open to being talked to, we are in the… living room? Is that what it is?” She starts to giggle again, but she nods her head enthusiastically. “Okay, good. That’s all sorted out. Now get off my bed,” you tease.

She jumps up, and as she reaches the doorway, she turns to you, her mouth open, eyes pained like she has to tell you something, but she closes her mouth, and goes out. Gog damn, you don’t like that.

“Jade.” Your voice rises on the last syllable, a warning. She turns around. “Spit it out.”

“Do you like dogs?” What kind of question is that?

“I like them, I guess. Never had one. Why, you want one?” You smirk at her.

“Because you have to meet Bec!”

“What, right now?”

“No, silly! Tomorrow after we are on our way to our first job!!” She laughed. She went into her room, and did she skip? You definitely think that she skipped into her room. What a dorky thing to do. But, the sun had surely set now, and getting sleep seemed like a good idea.

==> Jade: Think about Dave

And you do! You wonder how he knew, not even knowing you for a full day how you were keeping something that you want to say to him. How did he know? Was it a part of the bonding? Or could he just tell? Or perhaps it's because he is friends with your brother and so some of the things he does, you do?

You don't know, but you think on it as you go into your room. But the questions you have melt away as your work table catches your eye and you begin to tinker.

= => Dave: Get a Job

You haven’t even had breakfast, nor are you even awake, so how can you get a job? But you wake up, and groan, pushing yourself up and groping for your shades. The weak early morning light and your internal clock told you that it was early in the morning. 5:15:12 to be exact. You sometimes hate the fact that if you are out on a job, you have to wear your aspect colors and have your aspect somewhere visible on you, as a way for normal people to know you are a Protector, but today wasn’t the day to curse it. Today was a day of hell yeah, you look fly as hell today.

But you get up, get ready, and since you haven’t seen hide or hair of Jade, you go to her door and knock. There was no answer, so you open to see her face down on the worktable that she pushed in front of the lone window facing south. Various things were strewn about and it looked like she was working on something, but you can’t quite tell what. You lean over her, looking at it, snooping like a gossip monger, when she woke up.

“Mm? Bec?” You smirk at her grogginess, it was kinda cute how she sleepily looked up, her voice scratchy, and her hair wild, but you push that thought aside; there is a job to do. But first: breakfast.

“No, Dave.” You finally say as she searches for her glasses on the table. You help her out by picking them off the top of her head and handing them to her.

“The coolkid? Is it time for breakfast?” She finally puts on her glasses, and stretches as you move away from her, dodging her hands.

“Yes, the coolest of the kids, though I don’t think I could qualify as a kid anymore. And I hope you don’t expect me to bring you breakfast, because that shit ain’t happening.”

“No, silly! Is it time for breakfast?” She giggled, oh gog, she is peppy even when she just wakes up. You thought someone being awake and not grouchy in the morning was a myth, but here is someone who puts that to shame. Jebus, you need coffee to wake up.

“I suppose if you think about it, it’s always time for breakfast. Now get up so I can get coffee.” You nod to the table. “What’re you working on there?”

“Oh,” she mumbled, yawning behind her hand, “just working on a projectile explosive so I don’t have to use my powers unless necessary and so we could just take out enemies without the use of power as to save ourselves for when we truly need it.”

You blink. That was just too much information in the morning and before coffee yet. Though, you did ask, so you’re not going to complain, instead you ask: “How late were you up?”

“Oh, until three. I couldn’t sleep, I was so excited.” She shoved you out and closed the door, but you were both angry and surprised that she stayed up so late. She knew that you were about to get your first job. But if she couldn’t sleep, you guess that was an acceptable reason.

She didn’t take too long to get ready and before it was even six, you both were down in the Protectors’ café, ordering breakfast. The protectors’ café was a place that was free to those who become Protectors, can order anything at any time, as it is open twenty-four hours as well as things can be ordered to go. You don’t really take in anything about the décor; mostly you just take in coffee. And perhaps some food, you don’t really know. Mostly you remember coffee.

After that, you get up, and walk, almost on auto pilot to your Bro’s office. You always wondered if your Bro took the position of watching over the newbies and giving out jobs as well as being there for the bonding as a way to watch over you, but you can never tell with your Bro. He’s just too god damn cool to understand sometimes. You knock three times, and then enter, Jade trailing after you like some lost puppy.

“Bro, you got a job for us?”

“Sure thing, little man. We need you both to go to West town where some strange shit is going down. Don’t know what, but if it’s hostile and attacks the villagers: Kill it. Or them, if it’s more than one. Here’s some money for food and lodging. You’ll get your paycheck when you come back.” He tosses you a sack of coins, you nod after stowing it away and then head back out. It’s quite far to West town.

“That’s it?” Jade asks.

“Yep.”

“Well, I’ve never been there, and it’s out of range, so I guess we have to walk.” Crap, you forgot about her powers. “But, can we make a quick stop along the way? You have to meet Bec!” You honestly don’t, but you nod anyways. Hopefully this will be quick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Argh! Thank you for reading! I was getting caught up in finals. But now I can post more often! This chapter is short. Longer than my other one by about a page and a half, and I could cut it, but I really wanted to show them not used to each other at first. And settling in is my favorite part! But I will try to post longer chapters! Yes! That is my goal! I just needed to post this one because I needed to get it out now, y'know?


	3. In which Dave meets Bec

= => Get your stuff and head out

That’s what you’re trying to do. You’ve been on many missions where you have to be away from the Center of The World, and know how to pack. But that was when you were training as a Knight, younger, and had many people to distribute all of the necessary items between the whole group; this time it’s only the two of you, so you have to think more carefully. Even more so when you don’t know how long it’s going to take you to do your mission.

You have to admit: you’re pretty pumped to go on your first solo mission. Well, not quite solo – but almost. It’s been five years since Knight training and you want to make sure you are not only prepared, but also still be able to look cool without being overburdened with things. So you take four simple Knight of Time outfits – no need to be fancy, a bedroll, oiled canvas, flint, small lamp, and the pack of food apparently Harley picked up during breakfast. You look inside and yes, there is at least one god: there is instant coffee among the food. You wonder about cutlery and things of that nature when there was a knock on your door.

“Yes?” you answer, and your partner creaks in.

“Um, I was just wondering if you have the food I brought. I have the utensils and things of that sort.” You seriously wonder if she plans this, or can read your mind. So you try to think of something stupid, but fail. Even your thoughts are just too cool. But she needed an answer, so you lift up the bag and give a slight nod.

“Oh, good! Well, I’m packed. Are you?” You nod again. “Okay, then shall we?” She exclaimed and hopped in place before spinning around and exiting your doorway.

You heave an inner sigh and head after her.

= = > Dave: meet Bec.

Hold your goddamn horses, you’re getting to that. Can’t you see that you’re following your partner on a path outside the compounds of the CotW? You bat away low hanging branches as she leads you on a track that is probably just a deer track for it being just a small divot in the turf of the forest. And for how windy it is. You wonder how in the hell Jade even knew of this or if it was made by her or something. You honestly can’t see for shit and none of this better be poison—GODDAMN! You hunch over your face as a low hanging branch came out of nowhere and whacked into your beautiful goddamn face, knocking your wonderful shades off your face.

You hear Jade giggle. Oh fuck, can this get any worse? You wonder if you can just give up and tell Harley that both of you should just get the fuck outta of here.

“Why don’t you take off your shades?” She says as you grope on the ground for your shades.

“No,” you say gruffly, “gotta be cool all the time.” A hand holding your shades came into your line of sight. You grab them without looking up at her and put them on, finally looking at her. Instead of looking put off, she just looks apologetic.

“Sorry, I forget how much taller you are than me.” She worries her bottom lip between her teeth. “Sorry, I just wanted you to meet Bec, my best friend. If it’s any consolation, we’re almost there, but if you want to go now, I can just Warp us on the path we need to be.”

“Fuck. No, we can go on if we’re really close.” You say, wincing inwardly. She already knows your best friend, and you can see that she was trying to let you get to know her, which would help since you’ll be spending your life in her company. And you get instant results; she put away her puppy dog face and now wearing a bright and smiling face that could put the sun to shame. You swear either she got this from Egderp or he got it from her. Well, they are twins, could be genetic.

You plow on, this time, walking slower so you can see any stupid sticks armed and pointing at your face. You also note the fact that Jade was just too short to be bothered with all of the lethal face-swinging tree arms. You never envied being shorter until now. But that thought lasted only a fraction of a second before you are reminded you like being able to reach things. Oh hey, you also arrived.

You can tell because there is a large clearing and this HUGE ASS WHITE DOG. Like, its head came up to your shoulders, and you’re 6’3”! But Harley dashed up to the beast and hugged it, causing that white monster of a dog to wag its tail.

“This is Becquerel!” She exclaimed proudly, looking back at you.

“What the hell, Harley. This is your best friend?”

“Why, yes!” She looked at you like you just sprouted a sword through your chest as the monstrosity wagged its tail and licked the side of her face. “He has been in my life since me and John were small! I never really fit in with many people, so I always came here and been with him!”

Well, that answered why you never really met her before this, as you’re always hanging around John whenever you could, and only heard about her in passing. She muttered something to the gigantic mutt, and as stepped back, floating a bit. Oh shit, she’s going to warp us now? She could’ve at least given you warning before she did that. But the Dogasaur is now staring at you with these gnarly pure white eyes. Seriously, can this thing see? But it’s staring you down. And now growling. Shit, shit, shit, Harley’s in the middle of getting your ass out of here and so you don’t want to move, but judging by the gaping jaw of that devil beast, it’s not too happy with you and oh gods, is it getting up? Yes it is. Oh shit.

“Harley, can you go a little bit faster? I think your ‘best friend’ hates me and my awesome hair and wants to consume me so it might acquire my awesomeness by some mystical bullshit where you get things by eating them, thus getting their essence in your gut. Yeah. Pretty sure that’s what it’s doing. Come on Harley, I don’t want to be some weredog devil beast’s lunch.” You are panicking. But you are pretty sure she can’t hear you right now and-

You’re gone. You’re now on the path leading to West town. Fuck that was close.

= => Dave: Be Jade.

Dave met Bec! Now you don’t have to hide it! Well, you didn’t really hide Bec, as you didn’t really have people to talk to; it just never came up. But now someone other than you and John knows about Bec! This is exciting! You glance at Dave and notice that he seems paler than usual, but he’s standing in a puddle of sunlight, so it could just be a tick of the light. But he nods in the direction and you smile, turn and start marching in the right direction. At least this path is easier to walk down.

And so you keep walking, and it’s almost dusk by the time you get to the first wayside inn that is almost exclusively used by Protectors because this is the only road going west out of the Center. You’ve never been here, but you’ve read about it in books and seen it on the map. You quicken your pace because there is a bath calling your name.

Dave seems to understand, and smirks as he lengthens his legs to match your pace. Curse his long legs! If you were not happy with what you looked like, you maybe could go to another Space Warper to make you taller, too, but what would be the point in that? You now near it to the point where you can smell the delicious aroma from the kitchen and it takes all your willpower not to make a mad dash to the door, as stupidly, you both forgot to eat lunch!

But you walk in, talk to the nice people, get two rooms with an adjoining door, eat with more nice people then retire to a nice bath then sleep. You can’t wait until tomorrow!

= => Jade: Be Dave.

You really wonder about how your new partner can be so smart, as evident from the things she was chatting about after that monster-dog, but be so oblivious and dense to people. Did she not know that men like that don’t view talking normally to a girl as anything but hitting on them? Or for that matter, that being polite and talking to them like they were a friend somehow encourages people like that? They were pretty shady, but it was not your business so you just sat back and watch the one-woman show that is Jade Harley. They looked your way a few times, but you made no move so they kept bugging her. Man, it was kinda funny to see her puzzled face as she wondered why they wanted to go up to her room with her. But, she’s a grown-up, and the rest of the world is not like the CotW, she should probably learn that sometime soon, and you don’t want to be her teacher.

But you did notice that she basically has her heart on her sleeve and that makes you wonder if she does it because that’s who she is or because she hasn’t had her heart broken enough to keep it hidden. Like yours.

But, shut eye has to be gotten. You’re still at least three days from your destination, and you don’t want to run into some thugs from the Cult of Lord English. They are the only human-shaped anything that will attack any Protectors in sight. They tend to hang around these areas trying to kill those who try to Protect the natural order of things.

And your thoughts kept spinning until you fell asleep.

\---

You wake up, get Harley up and breakfast, and most importantly, coffee was consumed before you started making way to West town again. The light streaking down through the trees, early morning fog lazily drifting in patches in the late autumn day. Really quite pretty, but you just keep a casual-looking hand on your sword, while your ever-watchful eyes take in the surroundings from behind your shades. Goddamn, you love your shades. You can look cool, casual and not look like you have your guard up so you can trick your enemies, but once you see them, BAM! You flashstep and knock them out before they know what hit them.

Okay, this inner monologue feels like it’s totally leading up to an attack or some shit. I mean, really, it’s like you’re just ASKING for a battle. You should really stop. This is—

“LORD ENGLISH IS ALREADY HERE!!!”

Aw, shit. Somehow there are now ten Lord English cult members in front of you. You really got to take care of that stupid inner monologue; it’s going to get you into more trouble, you know it. Fuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, I got to meeting Bec, and I didn't know what to do with him so I just floundered a while and then came up with this? I'm so sorry! I'll try to get in one chapter once a week! And thank you for the comments! It really helps me think that people actually like this fic! :D I just needed this to get out of my head, y'know? Plus, I like the idea of my OTP slowly falling in love. <3


	4. In which there is a lot of talking

= => Dave: Kick their asses. 

You take out your sword and move in front of Jade, glancing back for a second to see her already surrounded in her power. Good, you think you like the fact that she is Warping instead of sitting back and doing nothing. You’ve had your fill of those people. The space between you and the attackers fill up with Daves. 

You flashstep to the side of the closest cult member, slicing diagonally up as you do. But, these fucking cult members always seem to be faster than a normal person should, and the one you are facing took a step back, letting your swing miss. Year of training though, came though, and you easily changed your swing to hit him with the flat of your blade against the side of his head. He dropped to the ground with a thud, but you ran back to cover Jade from a blow, then with a powerful, sickening chop, his head falls to the ground as you jump back in time.

This time, you aim for another person, relentlessly attacking, glancing this way and that before you see your other selves all close around Jade. You follow suit before you realize that your attackers haven’t followed you in pursuit. You don’t have to wonder why as not a half second goes before that thought was made when they exploded, their innards finally seeing the light of day. Most of the other Daves vanish, and then you Bend back in time, this time just trying to keep the stupid cult leaders at bay before Jade makes them become human piñatas. 

Seeing it several times does not make it less vomit-inducing. You are sure this is the last timeloop and the last time you’re seeing this show a la Jade, much to your relief, you feel really green around the gills, so to speak, and are thinking of finding a nice bush to fertilize with your vomit, when you hear a soft whump and a strangled sob. 

You look back to see Jade, sitting on the ground, viewing her work, a brave face as she looked at you with wet eyes. 

= => Be Jade. 

You knew you could kill people, you have been studying the theory, brushing up on anatomy to make sure that you knew how to be able to take down those who threaten you, if need be. But this was the first time putting it into practice. You felt sick from taking their lives, even though you knew that if you didn't, that they were going to kill some other people going to or from The Center of the World. 

You looked at Dave, his face a slight green, and you tear up. You didn't want to put him through seeing what you've done several times, but you did. You felt so vile and wretched that you want to throw up. But instead, you find the resolve to face what you have done, and got up from the ground you seemed to fall on, and dusted yourself off. 

“Let’s continue.” You shakily say. He just nods, collects your stuff and hands it to you. You cannot even meet his shades in fear of even seeing a disapproving look. You try to look at the scenery around you, trying not to think of how your power reached inside of them, touching their insides, expanding them rapidly, and your breath starts to quicken a little, and you make sure your eyes are firmly fixed to the side, so your partner would not see the hot tears running down your face.

“Hey.” Why is he trying to talk now? You say nothing in fear of sobbing. “Hey!” He got a little more insistent, but you kept your head held high and fixed away from him. “Look at me, damn it.”   
You suddenly find him in front of you, his hands on your shoulders and bending down to look you straight in the eyes, even with his shades. 

“You just killed your first person back there, didn't you?” He asked softy. A strangled sob escaped your throat, and before you knew it, you were sobbing into his shoulder, one of his large hands stroking your hair. “It’s okay,” he says, repeating it softly. You don’t know how long you were there, crying into his shoulder, but somehow, you got up and gave him a watery smile.

“Thank you, but we should get as far away from the bodies as we can before we make camp.” You managed not to choke on your lingering sobs, which pleased you. He nodded and you continued on.

= => Be Dave

You don’t believe it. You honestly don’t. She was hiding her tears from you. It seemed as though she wanted to be strong, even though she just killed people for the first time. You remember the first time you killed someone, and you still pale at the thought of killing someone. You hate it, but it’s easier if they attack you first; at least then it is in self-defense.

But she didn’t vomit, like you did, rushing to vomit without others seeing you not be cool. Instead, she just wanted you, her now life-long work partner, not to see cry as she silently tried to get over what you had to vomit over; you didn’t talk to anyone for two weeks after your first time, and now, she is smiling weakly, trying to still get stuff done. You can’t help but admire her courage.

“You know, I don’t even fucking understand why Lord English has minions, or even followers. I mean, this dude has a fucking motto of ‘I’m going to kill everyone and everything, in fact; I’m just going to destroy the entire universe’. Lord English probably gets off on destruction and probably his followers as well. I mean helping some sicko destroy the universe? Hell yeah bro, it’s what we jizz in our pants for: being stupid and ignorant and thoughts of you destroying us.” You ramble on, just going off; you honestly can’t understand why fucktards would follow that asshat English. And it seemed to calm down Jade. 

But you are also slightly surprised, unlike your bro John, or your sister Rose, she didn’t try to pick apart and tear your ramblings down. 

“You know, if I’m being stupid, just say ‘shut up Dave’. I’m used to it.”

“No no!” She giggled, making you not freak out as much as her tears made you. You honestly were freaking out as she sobbed, not even knowing what to do. “It’s okay! And you’re not stupid!” You smirk.

“Well Harley, your brother and my sister would beg to differ, they be all up and ‘no Dave, you are too cool for us and so we have to tell you to shut up and that you’re being stupid because we just can’t match that coolness.’ And I completely understand that mentality, I am way too cool for their minds.” That got a laugh from her, making your smirk way too close to an actual smile for your cool tastes.

“Of course!” Her eyes sparkle with good humor, “I’m barely able to handle all this cool that you have!” 

“Well shit, Harley, you’re pretty cool yourself,” you start to say.

“Really?!” Holy shit, she is practically glowing with excitement. 

“Well yeah, I mean you have to be to even stand in my presence and hear me speak.” Her excitement was practically contagious, and you try to keep her in better spirits as you know from experience that anything to distract her from what she did earlier would help. That’s how you got into writing songs and poetry. 

“Soooooo coooooool!” She exclaims what she said from your first conversation with each other. Your smirk threatens to become an actual smile again. 

“Yeah, you are Harley, you’re killing me with your coolness.” Oh shit. You realized your mistake after you said it. Killing. Shit shit shit. Her eyes glaze over and her face drops. “Shit, Harley, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to-“

“It’s okay, Dave.” She says softly, watching her feet move. “You’re trying to make me feel better. But… Can I be alone with my thoughts for a while?”

“No. Because then you are just going to think of it, and spiral down into a depression for a while and not be on top of your fucking game and I need you to be the most on top of your game ever. Like a game will be going on and then people will look up and see you. I need you like that.” You started to rant. You honestly don’t want her to cry again, it freaked you out too much. “When the fucking game starts, I want you to be on top of that shit like you were when we fought: stepped up to the fucking plate and ready to play ball. The game was a sudden death match and you just said ‘fuck this, I want to live’ and beat them. I need that.”

She looked up to you and gave a small smile that twisted your heart for some asinine reason. When Karkat was dealing with his first kill, it didn’t beat you up as bad as her first one. Perhaps it’s because she’s your best bro’s sister. You don’t know.

“I’ll be okay, Dave.” She replied, “really, I will be! I just need a few minutes to get my thoughts in line. I won’t even dream of keeping a cool kid off his game!” Her smile was more genuine and if you weren’t so cool, you’d blow a sigh of relief, instead of the cool nod you just gave her. Gog, you are so lame. If your bro didn’t teach you your poker face, you’re sure your cool cred would be non-existent and people would start thinking that you were like Egbert. You honestly hate yourself right now for thinking about how to be cool and how lame your thoughts are when someone RIGHT FUCKING NEXT TO YOU is going through a lot of emotional turmoil. Fuck you are an ass.

= => Be Jade.

In his own way, Dave is very sweet. He is trying to cheer you up, and he honestly doesn’t know how. He is practically humming with worry, but with his impassive face, he looks calm and collected. You frown, wondering how you know he is humming with worry. But if it means you can understand him without him taking off those weird glasses, then you’re okay with it. Though you do secretly think they look good on him. He does have a pretty face! You glance at the shadows on the trees lining the road you two are walking down and groan.  
“Dave, it’s getting pretty late. The sun will set in an hour or so.” 

“Where should we set up camp?” 

You grin. “Follow me!” You take his hand and rush off into the trees, putting some distance between you and the road. When you get to the place that looks right you stop and triumphantly wave your hand to the giant tree in front of you.

“You want to sleep in a tree?”

“There is no room now, but watch!” You concentrate, your mind focusing on what you are doing. You take a large branch that is hanging over another and widen it to fit three people, warping the inside to be hollow. But to keep it held up, you have to work on the tree itself and do so, also making sure that you have at least one opening so you both can breathe. Then after you are satisfied, you bring yourself and Dave into the sleeping place you made. 

“Damn Harley, did you have to go all out?” You grin at him, exhausted from the day. 

“Of course! This way we don’t have to deal with people stumbling on our camp or having to take watch.” You point up to the opening on the top. “We have air and at night we can even light a fire if we’re careful. Plus it’s warm and out of the wind. It’s perfect!”

“Well, shit. When you put it like that, I guess this really is a good place to sleep.” He smirks at you, and your stomach squeezes a little. Both of you then stop talking, and just set up camp. You even use your powers to call a stone from the ground and then shaped it to be bigger with a large dent in the middle so when you and Dave light a fire, it would not catch on the tree around you.   
But it wasn’t until you were setting up your bedroll that you remembered something to tell Dave, but he looked like he was passed out so you shrugged it off; he will understand come morning.

= => Dave: Wake up.

Why? Ugh, you hate the morning, and you hate getting up without coffee right next to you. It does not matter that coffee never appeared right next to you, it just sucks that it doesn’t do that when you wake up. You stiffen as you feel something move against you. Opening your eyes, you see hair. Jade hair. Jade burrowing her face in your chest and curled up in a ball – hair. You wonder why she was trying to invade your blankets when she- oh. Okay. She moves in her sleep, obviously. You can tell by the way her blankets are all over the place. It’s too early to deal with this, but at the same time, she is warm and soft. You consult your internal clock and seeing as it’s four in the morning, you adjust her to be more comfortable for you both, and wrap your blanket around the both of you and go back to sleep, your mind slightly clamoring that this may be a bad idea, but you pay it no heed as sleep claims you once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long! So I tried my best and re-read it to try and cut down on the bad grammar and mistakes as well as made it much longer than the other chapters. I am so thankful for all of your kind words! They keep me going! And did you like the little bit of cuddles at the end? Hehehehe, I have a lot of the plot mapped out. <3

**Author's Note:**

> Written when I had insomnia, and if anyone is out of character, PLEASE tell me? It would be lovely if someone would like to give feedback!


End file.
